Trumped: don’t lose your domain

Trump, as the dictionary defines, refers to “any playing card of a suit that for the time outranks the other suits, such a card being able to take any card of another suit.”

Donald Trump reportedly played his cards in such a fashion that he was able to take the card, so to speak, of Jeb Bush. In this case, the 'card' being opponent Jeb Bush's campaign domain. Donald Trump took ownership of JebBush.com, redirecting it to the Donald Trump site, as the Bush campaign had let their domain expire.

Huge mistake. How could this go unnoticed?!

Turns out this was not a devious sleight of hand trick on Trump's part. It was in fact the devious hand of an internet troll, Trump supporter or just general 'funny guy' – whoever he was (privacy protected by domain registrar fabulous.com), I’ll let you dub them what you will). Though how easily the world bought into the story, assuming dirty politics, which is the frightening part!

Politics aside, the lesson here for us is about the importance and power of domain names!

1. Renewal. According to webhosting.info 1,118,985 domains were registered this week alone. And while there are unlimited possibilities, the possibilities are all the same limited. These figures say to me, “someone could very easily snatch up my domain if I don't renew it”.

2. Representation. How well does your domain represent you? How “searchable” is your brand? If I were searching for Jeb Bush's site, I would probably search “jebbush.com” - the very site reputedly overtaken. Yet his actual campaign domain is Jeb2016.com

3. Redirect. If you own multiple domains, you can redirect people to your preferred domain address, as seen in the Bush/Trump example. Yes, each domain comes at a cost... but it does allow you to protect your intellectual property.

When was the last time you considered the logistics of that frequently visited domain of yours? Websites are incredibly highly interacted with, but we can often leave them, sitting passively, once they are built. We must keep them active, and current, if we are to stay ahead of the game. Play your best hand and don't let yourself be trumped.